Heavy sand extraction activities in the district of Chibuto, Gaza province, have been paralysed since Friday (22) due to a strike called by workers who are demanding an end to alleged mistreatment by some senior staff of the Chinese company Dingsheng Minerals, the newspaper Noticias reported .
According to the trade union committee, quoted by the newspaper, those responsible for the situation are the company’s general manager and three supervisors. The workers said they will only return to work if the three supervisors are sacked.
Dingsheng Minerals has neither confirmed nor denied the allegations of mistreatment, but considers the workers’ demand for payment of wages during the period they are off work to be unfeasible.
The company, which has more than 600 workers, operates the heavy sands mine in the Chibuto district of Gaza province, with a capacity to process 10,000 tonnes of sands a day.
The mining company is currently finalising the construction of a port in Chongoene to facilitate the export of minerals which, due to a lack of infrastructure of this kind, is done through the port of Maputo.
The construction of the Chongoene port, budgeted at more than 18.9 billion meticals (300 million dollars), arose from the need to find a way to export the heavy sands from Chibuto without the high costs of road transport to the port of Maputo.
